To clarify my relationship with this agent was that they were representing the buyer of my property and their professionalism in this directly impacted me. Unfortunately the experience was not good. This agent was handling a transaction of £800,000 to propspective buyers living in rented.. On the basis of their assurances my buyer carried out a survey on my property and instructed solicitors. I also carried out a survey, arranged mortgages and instructed solicitors committing to spend of thousands of pounds. After 10 weeks the chain was not moving prompting both myself and the person I was buying from to bypass our agents and arrange face to face meetings with Calvin at Farmer and Dyer. It turned out that the prospective buyer had not even arranged a valuation survey. During the meeting Calvin was decidedly unimpressive and had he been my agent I would not have accepted any offer he put forward. I asked basic questions...\'do you know the percentage mortgage the buyer is looking for?\' Answer No. \'Have you see evidence of their mortgage in principle\' Answer No. \'have you seen evidence of a deposit (remember these buyers had nothing to sell so money should be in a bank account)\' Answer No. \'has your financial advisor assessed their ability to buy or have you spoken to their IFA\' Answer No. is there anything written down to support you qualification of this buyer\'. Answer No. In short there was nothing ( after 10 weeks ) to support the fact that the buyer was good or that the agent had any confidence yet they had happily let people further up the chain spend money on mortgages arrangement, surveys, legal fees.

The other point is my wife and my solicitor spoke to Damien Farmer to qualify what was being done and both said he was very rude. I am sure they felt under pressure but all other agents in the chain remained polite and professional throughout. In the end the chain collapsed and several people lost their money.

Discussing locally with other families in coffee shops around Caversham I have heard similar stories about this agent. My view is beware. F&D may be ok if you are selling a small property to a first time buyer and moving to rented although there is plenty of other choice so why take the risk. However if you have a substantial property and likely to be in a chain I would avoid. In future I will not be accepting offers from prospective buyers if Farmer and Dyer are critical to closing a sale in the chain below me. For those of you with properties on the market in 2013 with Farmer and Dyer between 600-1M I am a potential buyer but I am not viewing your house because of your agent.

What agent could do to change your mind?

Change of personnel (Calvin is not up to it). Apology from Damien Farmer to my wife for being rude and offer a goodwill contribution to to me to cover some of the ‚£3,000 I have lost (they know whe we are).